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The Yankees have come to rely on production from their superstars, and this afternoon against the O’s, they got just that. Aaron Judge and Ben Rice both homered early—before Rice left the game in the fourth inning with a hand contusion suffered on a pickoff throw. But for a team to sustain a hot two-week stretch, everyone needs to contribute. With the game tied in the sixth, Jasson Domínguez lit the rocket fuse with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a single. Then he kick-started a furious eighth-inning onslaught with his first home run of the year, one of two run-scoring extra-base hits he provided in the frame. The Bombers wrapped up a series win with a 11-3 victory by feasting on Baltimore’s bullpen late.

Rice set the tone looking right as rain, ambushing Gibson on the first pitch and socking a line drive over the short porch in right field for his team-tying 12th home run. This ball was blistered—Rice hit it 110 mph for the opening salvo and a 1-0 Yankee lead.

But once again, he wouldn’t have the homer lead for long. Aaron Judge stepped up in the bottom of the third and smashed a hanging slider over the left-center wall by the loading bay. Lucky number 13, as Michael Kay would say, traveled 413 feet and gave New York a 3-1 lead.

Even in the inning where Baltimore scored that first run, Judge stole the show on defense. Weston Wilson was picked off by Fried, but outran Rice’s throw to second to put himself in scoring position. So when Blaze Alexander blooped a single the other way, Wilson easily scored. But Judge caught Alexander rounding first base too aggressively, and threw behind him to start a rundown. Jazz Chisholm Jr. raced to apply the tag on Alexander to secure the out.

The next batter was Taylor Ward, Judge’s one-time teammate at Fresno State. Ward skied a ball to right, testing the wall, but Judge had it measured perfectly, making a leaping catch as he hit the fence.

The vibes took a 180-degree shift in the top of the fourth, however. First, Rice was removed from the game for reasons unclear. Rice had taken his second at-bat and legged out a bloop double ahead of Judge’s homer. Nothing the YES cameras captured could elucidate why he was removed, but the fact remained that Paul Goldschmidt was in the game to play first.

As if a big balloon deflated in the park, so too did Fried’s command. After a leadoff double, Fried issued a walk and gave up a pair of infield hits, one of which plated a run. He prevented Baltimore from putting up a crooked number by inducing a ground ball double play from Jeremiah Jackson, but Tyler O’Neill still scored the tying run to make it a new ballgame at 3-3.

The Oriole rookie Gibson departed after walking Judge with two outs in the fifth. Manager Craig Albernaz brought in a southpaw, Grant Wolfram, to face a lane with consecutive left-handed hitters. Bellinger, unfazed by lefty pitching, hit a wallscraping double to right. It was the second time this week the scorching Bellinger had missed a homer by a matter of feet, but it placed two runners in scoring position. Chisholm, less adept against same-siders, rolled over to first and was unable to leg out an infield hit when first baseman Coby Mayo bobbled the baseball.

Fried tossed a scoreless fifth inning, then re-emerged from the dugout despite having thrown over 90 pitches. He appeared to be off to a good start to the sixth, but a throwing error from Ryan McMahon on a routine grounder made things complicated. As usual, Max rebounded a batter later, getting Mayo to roll into an apparent double play—however, the out call at first was successfully overturned. Fried walked Leody Taveras and was removed from the game.

Fernando Cruz took over to face Jackson, and got the Baltimore second baseman to ground into yet another inning-ending double play—saved at the end by a beautiful stretch by Goldschmidt to corral a low throw from Jazz. That twin killing preserved the tie and preventing any further runs charged to Fried’s account.

The Bombers took the lead back in the home sixth through a series of unexpected-but-welcome developments. First, Jasson Domínguez picked up his first extra-base hit of the year, ripping a double from the right side of the plate against Wolfram. He advanced to third on a productive out, then up came Ryan McMahon, staying in the game to bat left-on-left. The embattled third baseman dribbled a grounder toward first, but Mayo, preoccupied with Domínguez streaking toward home, never fielded the glove cleanly. Domínguez scored and McMahon reached first with an RBI infield hit. Yennier Cano entered the game afterward, and Trent Grisham nearly plated McMahon with a ball in the gap, but a terrific diving catch by O’Neill saved a run and retired the side.

Following a clean eighth from breakout reliever Brent Headrick, the Bombers got their lineup in full working order. Facing veteran Andrew Kittredge, the Yankees smacked five consecutive hits—and all five runners went on to score. The second in that sequence was another loud sound from Domínguez. Having gotten his first extra-base hit in his previous AB, The Martian checked his first homer off the list with a fly ball to the short porch in right.

The top of the Yankee order added on further from there with a sac fly from Grisham and a two-run single from Goldschmidt to give the Yankees a 9-3 lead. Kittredge departed having allowed seven hits in eight batters faced. Ouch! The fun didn’t stop there—Jazz grabbed a sac fly to give the Yanks double digits, then Domínguez repeated his sixth-inning act with another double hitting right-handed to plate the seventh and final inning of the home eighth.

Needless to say, David Bednar had a good bit of margin for error, entering in a non-save situation. He still turned in a scoreless ninth to give New York another breezy victory in the Bronx. They now sit 12 games over .500, and remain the top team in the American League.

Normally, the series would be done after the Sunday matinée, but not this time. Baltimore will stay in town on Monday—I suppose they’re enjoying themselves too much? Cam Schlittler will face former Ray Shane Baz to try and get the four game sweep—mop?—with first pitch set for the usual evening timeslot: 7:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score

Box Score

Logan Henderson looked great through six strong innings, but Milwaukee couldn’t complete the sweep of the Nationals as a ninth-inning rally fell just short in Sunday’s series finale.

Both teams combined for just one hit, a Brandon Lockridge double, through the first four innings. Milwaukee was the first team to score, breaking through in the top of the fifth after Lockridge led off with a bunt single off Zack Littell. Littell then walked Sal Frelick to put runners at first and second. David Hamilton, who struck out on a bunt in his first at-bat, got it down this time — advancing Frelick to second and Lockridge to third.

As is often the case, Joey Ortiz came up with runners in scoring position. Littell left a sinker up in the zone, and Ortiz squared it up, sending a fly ball to left-center that likely would’ve been a three-run homer if not for the wind blowing in at Nationals Park. Center fielder Jacob Young ran it down on the warning track, but the sacrifice fly still gave the Brewers a one-run lead.

Henderson’s bid for perfection ended in the fifth when CJ Abrams led off with a ground ball to first. Jake Bauers made a nice play, but Henderson slipped on his way over to cover the bag, allowing Abrams to reach safely. Daylen Lile struck out on a foul tip for the first out, but Abrams promptly stole second to give Washington its first runner in scoring position.

Nasim Nuñez followed with a single to center, scoring the speedy Abrams and tying the game at 1-1. The next batter, José Tena, worked the count to 2-2 before turning on a cutter and driving it into the right-center gap. Nuñez came around to score from first on the triple, giving the Nationals the lead.

With still only one out and Nuñez on third, Henderson managed to bear down, inducing a soft lineout from Jorbit Vivas and a flyout from Keibert Ruiz to keep the deficit to one run.

Washington added an insurance run in the seventh against Brian Fitzpatrick, who came in for Henderson to start the seventh. In a sequence that felt like déjà vu all over again, Abrams led off with another infield single and Nuñez came through with another RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1.

Meanwhile, the Brewers’ offense went quiet. Milwaukee went down in order in the sixth, seventh, and eighth before finally showing signs of life in the ninth. William Contreras grounded out to start the inning, but Gary Sánchez singled to bring the tying run — Jake Bauers — to the plate. Bauers hit a single to right to advance Blake Perkins (running for Sánchez) to third.

With runners on the corners, Garrett Mitchell hit a slow chopper to second. Nuñez charged, fielded it cleanly, and threw across his body to get Mitchell by a hair. Perkins scored to make it a one-run game, with the tying run now in scoring position.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as Milwaukee would get. Brandon Lockridge waved at a sweeper in the dirt for strike three, ending the game.

The biggest positive from today’s game was Henderson. Despite taking the loss, he went six innings and struck out eight, allowing two runs and just three hits without walking a batter. Every time Henderson has started for the Brewers, he’s shown he belongs in the majors, but it’s hard to win games when your offense can only muster four hits. Brandon Lockridge’s bunt single was the only hit the Brewers recorded in 5 2/3 innings against Zack Littell (7.24 ERA after today’s game) and Mitchell Parker (4.05 ERA).

The Brewers will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s series opener against the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, who currently boast a 20-13 record. They’ll also be getting first baseman Andrew Vaughn back, who has been out since March 28 with a fractured left hand (and maybe Jackson Chourio, too). First pitch is slated for 6:45 p.m.

There was a large chunk of today’s game when the Orioles were in it. They came back from a deficit to tie the game at 3-3, they made some noise against lefty ace Max Fried, and Trey Gibson did not implode as so many starting pitchers have for the Orioles lately. When they fell behind by a run late in the game, it felt like it might just be an easily forgettable loss. But then the bullpen really messed things up and when the dust settled, it was another embarrassing blowout loss. You guys? I’m starting to think maybe the Orioles aren’t good. At baseball.

When you saw today’s pitching matchup, you may not have been surprised if I told you that the Orioles were going to lose by eight runs. Gibson was making his Major League debut against a very tough team, while the Orioles had to face one of the toughest lefties in baseball. But Gibson held his own. And while Fried wasn’t bad, he was not the untouchable pitcher he has been so often this year. When both starting pitchers exited the game, the score was tied 3-3.

Enter the bullpens. Grant Wolfram had finished the fifth inning for Gibson, then returned for the sixth. He was greeted by a double from Jasson Domínguez that put the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs. Domínguez moved to third on a groundout. The Orioles moved the infield in to try and cut the runner down at home. It almost worked.

Ryan McMahon grounded a ball to the right side that first baseman Coby Mayo made a good diving stop on. But he couldn’t get the ball transferred and thrown home, nor could he get the out at first base. It put the team down, 4-3. It was another frustrating display of Orioles defense that we have seen so many times this year and even earlier in this game.

Yennier Cano replaced Wolfram and got the final outs (thanks in part to a very nice catch by Tyler O’Neill), but the damage was done.

Andrew Kittredge lit the whole game on fire in the eighth inning when he faced eight batters and retired just one of them. The only out he recorded was a sacrifice fly. Dietrich Enns followed Kittredge and was also very bad. So that’s nice. Those two turned a respectable 4-3 deficit into an 11-3 blowout.

It was a shame that it turned out that way, because the Gibson vs Fried portion of the game was much more exciting than we expected.

Gibson allowed a first-inning home run to Ben Rice that put the Orioles in a 1-0 hole. A frustrating way to start the game, but Rice has been unstoppable so far this year. After Weston Wilson made an error at third base to turn a groundout into a runner on second, it felt like things might fall apart early. But Gibson kept his cool and retired Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm to get out of the inning.

In the third inning, Rice hit a high fly ball to left field. Wilson raced out from third and Taylor Ward raced in from left field as the ball plummeted to earth. It looked like Wilson had no shot but Ward may have. But with Wilson running full speed towards him, Ward couldn’t get it done. It would have been a tough play but the Orioles made it look bad.

And, of course, the next batter was Judge. Gibson threw him a curveball that landed dead center in the plate. Judge did not miss. The 413 blast gave the Yankees their second and third runs.

Gibson finished out the third and then had a very nice 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. He looked strong to start the fifth as well. He got two quick outs and then battled with Judge. On a 2-2 count, Gibson threw a pitch that looked to nick the corner of the strike zone, but it was called a ball. Neither Gibson nor Rutschman opted to challenge, and the next pitch was ball four. It kept Gibson from completing five innings as he was removed from the game.

Overall, I am calling it a successful Major League debut for Gibson. There aren’t many tougher assignments than the one he pulled.

And thanks to the Orioles putting some heat on Fried, Gibson left the game in line for a no-decision.

Taylor Ward started the game by working a nine-pitch walk. The Orioles didn’t score in the first, but they did force Fried to throw 24 pitches. In the third inning, Wilson singled and then stole second base. Fried was trying to pick him off but Wilson prevailed. Blaze Alexander dropped a bloop inside the foul line in right field that allowed Wilson to score easily. But Alexander ruined the good feelings almost immediately by going to far around first base and getting tagged out.

Down 3-2 going into the fourth inning, the offense gave Fried a real hard time. Pete Alonso started with a double, then O’Neill walked. Mayo grounded a ball to third base, but McMahon couldn’t make a throw and Mayo was credited with an infield single. An infield single from Leody Tarveras scored one run, and a double play by Jeremiah Jackson brought home one more.

To only score two runs with the bases loaded and no outs is a little disappointing, but we’ve seen worse. The offense blew another scoring chance in the sixth inning when Jackson grounded into yet another double play. Fried had exited the game just before the double play and had a final pitching line of 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 6 K. Not bad against a pitcher of his caliber, but frustrating that they couldn’t do more with their chances.

Orioles lose, 11-3. They are now on a four-game losing streak, starting with the disaster that was game two of their doubleheader with the Astros. In three games against the Yankees this weekend, the Orioles have been outscored 27-9. They play the series finale tomorrow with Shane Baz on the mound.

The Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 11-3 on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Ben Rice made an impact at the plate, but his day also came to an abrupt end. 

After hitting a solo homer in the top of the first inning off of righty Trey Gibson, who was making his major league debut, Rice later came out of the game in the top of the fourth. He left with what the team is calling a left hand contusion. X-rays are negative, and Rice is considered day-to-day. 

The injury appeared to happen when a Max Fried pickoff attempt caught him awkwardly somewhere around the left hand. 

-- Aaron Judge came up with big plays both as a hitter and fielder. In the top of the third, Judge made a terrific catch leaping up against the wall in right, robbing Taylor Ward of extra bases. Then, in the bottom half of the same inning, Judge blasted a two-run homer, tying Munetaka Murakami for the AL lead with 13 home runs.

-- Coming off of back-to-back scoreless outings, Fried wasn’t as sharp in this one. While he struck out the side in order in the second, his command, especially with his changeup, wasn't great. Fried left a 3-3 game with two runners on base in the sixth inning, and Fernando Cruz stranded both runners. Fried went 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, striking out six and walking three.

-- Gibson, meanwhile, had a nice afternoon in his big league debut, going 4.2 innings while allowing three earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks. 

-- Jasson Dominguez helped the Yankees take the lead in the sixth, ripping a double from the right-hand side and coming in to score on a Ryan McMahon infield single. Dominguez then gave the Yankees some more insurance runs in the eighth inning, hitting his first home run since last August, putting the Yankees up 6-3. A Paul Goldschmidt two-run single later in the inning broke the game wide open.

And as the floodgate broke open, Dominguez got another at-bat in the eighth inning, and this time ripped another RBI double from the right side.

-- Brent Headrick did a great job out of the bullpen, recording five critical outs in the seventh and eighth innings. Headrick's season ERA is now just 1.59.

Game MVP

Dominguez, who had hits from both sides of the plate and drove in three runs.

Highlights

BEN RICE'S 12TH HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/gaZNna2UUY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Aaron Judge leaps at the wall and makes the catch! pic.twitter.com/f40KyZwQIr

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

ALL RISE.

NO. 13 FOR AARON JUDGE! pic.twitter.com/FbC5mj1AEO

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Jasson Domínguez scores and Ryan McMahon reaches first! pic.twitter.com/qi0vDHZ6mb

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Welcome to Area 161 🛸 pic.twitter.com/oXN4X1QRyu

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 3, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Yankees and Orioles finish their wraparound series on Monday at 7:05 p.m.

Shane Baz faces Cam Schlittler.

The Dodgers didn’t hit a home run on Sunday, but didn’t need to. They scraped together just enough offense to back a stingy Justin Wrobleski, who extended his April success into May in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Dodgers, their longest of the season.

Wrobleski allowed 11 hard-hit balls — defined by Baseball Savant as any batted ball with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — and induced only four swinging strikes among his 83 pitches. He didn’t strike anybody out. But Wrobleski tiptoed through the minefield unscathed with six more scoreless innings.

The left-hander allowed six singles and a walk, but they were aligned in advantageous fashion, in that four of the hits and the lone walk came with two outs, with less time in each of those innings to cash them in.

It’s the first time a Dodgers starter finished with at least six scoreless innings and no strikeouts since Mike Morgan pitched a shutout to beat the San Diego Padres on April 19, 1991. Joe Davis during the SportsNet LA broadcast also mentioned that the last time a Dodgers pitcher got through six innings (not the finished line) with no strikeouts was Jamie Arnold on May 5, 1999 in Montreal against the Expos.

Arnold remained in that game and got two strikeouts in the seventh inning. Wrobleski’s day was done after six innings on Sunday, adding yet another solid start to his resumé.

Since joining the rotation a month ago, Wrobleski has 13 total strikeouts and nine walks in five starts, but has allowed only two runs in 31 innings. And five wins.

“There’s the thought — and with good reason — that it’s unsustainable to have this much contact and these good of numbers,” Davis said on the broadcast in the sixth inning. “But you could say that after one start of there being a ton of contact and a bunch of zeroes. You wait for that shoe to drop, but he just keeps on putting up zeroes and getting guys out.”

Wrobleski pitched with a lead in five of his six innings, thanks to a pair of runs fueled by Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages doubles in the second inning. Two more hits in the fifth plated another, with Freddie Freeman singling home Hyeseong Kim.

Pages reached on an error, stole second, and scored on an Alex Call single in the ninth inning for some insurance.

The Dodgers didn’t hit a home run on Sunday, running their streak to six straight games and 232 plate appearances without. It’s the longest power drought for Los Angeles since an eight-game skid from July 10-21, 2014.

But after scoring seven total runs during their four-game losing streak, the four runs felt like a bounty, and in a way it was, representing their largest output since Monday.

Sunday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Justin Wrobleski (5-0): 6 IP, 6 hits, 1 walk

LP — Dustin May (3-3): 6 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (2): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers move on to Texas, trying to find their way against the Astros beginning Monday night (5:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) at Daikin Park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the mound for Los Angeles. Steve Okert will be the opener for Houston on Monday, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

The St. Louis Cardinals didn’t provide much to get excited about for the first 8 innings. Dustin May gave the Cardinals a serviceable start, but his former team touched him up for 3 runs before his day was done. The Cardinals had early innings opportunities, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard until late and, even then, not enough to sweep the Dodgers as LA prevailed 4-1.

The Los Angeles Dodgers struck first when Kyle Tucker doubled in the top of the 2nd inning followed by a walk to Max Muncy and a double from Andy Pages giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Kim then singled scoring Muncy making it 2-0 Los Angeles. Kim would irritate the Cardinals further when he reached on an infield single in the top of the 5th inning. He advanced to second on an infield groundout by Shohei Ohtani and then scored on a Freddie Freeman single giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. That was a historic RBI with a Cardinals connection as Freddie passed Johnny Mize for 94th on the all-time RBI list.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got an excellent start from Justin Wrobleski who held the Cardinals scoreless allowing only 6 hits through the first 6 innings. Dustin May wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful either. He kept the Cardinals within striking distance allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits through 6 innings. He did receive his World Series ring from the Dodgers this weekend which was nice…for him.

Justin Bruihl was the first representative to make an appearance from the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen entering the game in the top of the 7th inning. He walked the first batter he saw. Two batters later, he plunked Shohei Ohtani where the sun don’t shine bringing up Freddie Freeman with two runners on base, but he struck him out and escaped the inning with no harm done.

Jared Shuster pitched the 8th inning for the Cardinals and got Kyle Tucker out on a deep fly to right field. Max Muncy reached on an infield ball hit between JJ Wetherholt and Masyn Winn, but Shuster got Rushing to hit into a double-play to end the inning.

The Cardinals had their chances. Both Winn and Church bottom of the 2nd inning, but Church was thrown out trying to steal second base to end that potential rally. Similar story in the bottom of the 3rd inning when JJ Wetherholt reached on an error and Ivan Herrera walked, but Jordan Walker grounded out to shortstop so no soup for you. In yet another instance of Deja vu, the Cardinals would see Fermin and Church single in the bottom of the 4th inning, but Pedro Pagés lined out to left stranding even more runners.

The cardiac Cardinals would not go quietly as the offense waited until the bottom of the 8th inning to score. With 2 outs, Jordan Walker lived up to his name and walked. He would score on a single by Alec Burleson which was misplayed in the outfield giving the Cardinals hope cutting into the Dodgers lead 3-1.

That moment of optimism would be muted in the top of the 9th inning when Jared Shuster would give up an unearned run when Andy Pages reached on an error by Masyn Winn. Pages stole second on a ball that Pages threw into center field and then advanced to third on a ground out by Rojas. He would score on a pinch-hit single by Andy Call. Remarkably, Shohei Ohtani remained hitless for the entire series in St. Louis. The Dodgers weren’t done in the 9th as Freddie Freeman doubled on a ball that hit the foul line in left field and bounced into the stands. After an ABS challenge, Freeman was granted his well-earned double. With runners at second and third, the Cardinals intentionally walked Hernandez to load the bases, but Tucker would line out to center leaving St. Louis within a grand slam at 5-1 Dodgers.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals would get no grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning. Fermin struck out, Church lined out and Pagés struck out. All things considered, we just have to realize that we took 2 out of 3 from the defending World Champions.

The St. Louis Cardinals get no rest as they’ll welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to town for a very important early season National League Central showdown starting Monday. Kyle Leahy will start for the Cardinals while Chad Patrick will be send to the mound for the dastardly Brewers. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm Monday night in Busch Stadium and televised play-by-play available through Cardinals.tv.

Texas Rangers lineup for May 3, 2026 against the Detroit Tigers: starting pitchers are Jack Leiter for the Rangers and Tyler Holton for the Tigers.

The Rangers take on Detroit in the series finale in Detroit. Brandon Nimmo is back in the lineup, at DH.

The lineup:

Nimmo — DH

McCutchen — LF

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Burger — 1B

Carter — CF

Duran — RF

Smith — 2B

Higashioka — C

6:20 p.m. Central start time on Peacock. Rangers are +102 underdogs.

Blue Jays 3 Twins 4

That was irritating.

Joe Ryan left the game with a sore elbow after walking the second batter and we had to think we had a good chance.

But no.

Trey Yesavage wasn’t good, but then only gave up one run. In four innings he allowed five hits, three walks and six strikeouts. He got the outs when he needed and got the luck when he needed. In the third, with a runner on first, Trey gave up a hard hit double down the third base line, it looked like it would score a run, but it bounced over the wall in left for a ground rule double. A walk and strikeout ended the inning without that run scoring.

Unfortunately, Braydon Fisher didn’t have that sort of luck. He gave up three earned while getting just two outs, making it a 4-0 game.

The rest of the pen was good: Joe Mantiply (three outs), Tommy Nance (four outs) and Jeff Hoffman (three outs) didn’t allow a run.

The offense got 11 hits, but only went 1 for 11 with RISP.

We scored:

• One in the sixth: Vladmir Guerrero and Jesús Sánchez started it off with singles, to give us runners on the corners. After a Lenyn Sosa strikeout, Daulton Varsho (against a lefty pitcher), put down a very nice bunt single (just barely safe at first) bringing in the run. But an Ernie Clement line out, Andrés Giménez hit by pitch and Tyler Heineman fly out didn’t score anyone. Questioning why we didn’t pinch hit for Tyler is fair. We were down one on the bench, I’m pretty sure there was no chance George Springer would come into the game. But Heineman came out of the game before the top of the inning. Shi Davidi says it was a manager’s decision. I don’t understand that. If you weren’t going to pinch hit for him, why take him out? It makes no sense. Punishing him for the fly out? That’s stupid. Must be more to it.
• Two in the ninth: With one out (Brandon Valenzuela strikeout), Myles Straw singled and Kazuma Okamoto homered. Then Vlad singled (hard hit right through Twins second baseman Royce Lewis. Could have been called an error, but then it was hit at 112.2 mph, so would be a very tough error. Sánchez singled again, putting the tying run on second. But Sosa ground into a double play to end the game. After going 5 for 9, the last two games, Sosa had an 0 for 5, with 2 strikeouts and that double play, today.

We had baserunners and didn’t score in:

• The first, 2 on.
• The second, 1 on.
• The fourth, 1 on.
• The fifth, 1 on.
• The eighth, 2 on.

Sánchez had 3 hits. Vlad and Daulton (his double was our only extra base hit) 2. Sosa (0 for 5), Clement (0 for 3, walk) and Heineman (0 for 3).

On Heineman:

This seems pretty random. Lots of players had bad at bats. I don’t see why you would humiliate Tyler (as much as he’s not hitting at all this year, but then, that’s his MO (other than last year). If you were going to take him out the time to do it was before the at bat in the sixth, not after.

It seems like the move of a frustrated manager (which I can understand), but it is weird.

Jay of the Day: Sánchez (.15 WPA). Trey was close (0.8), but he really had a tough time of it. It is a sign of a good pitch when you can battle through bad stuff and only give up one run.

Honourable mention to Varsho. That sac bunt was terrific and he doubled in the eighth.

Other Award: Sosa (-.41, a huge negative), Fisher (-.17), and Heineman (-.13).

Tomorrow, the Jays are in the fourth circle of hell that is Tampa. Eric Lauer will likely be starter or bulk guy. Nick Martinez (2-1, 1.70).

The Atlanta Braves announced that pitcher Jose Suarez was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners and reliever Joel Payamps was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. Both pitchers were designed for assignment by Atlanta on May 1.

Suarez had pitched in six games with the Braves, making one start and collecting one three-inning save. He struck out 21 but walked 12 in 16.1 innings, allowing 12 earned runs. His underlying peripherals were better than the outcome, and the left-hander will now try to stick as a swingman with the Mariners, whom the Braves will face in their next series.

Suarez was acquired last Spring in a deal for pitcher Ian Anderson and appeared in seven games for the Braves.

Payamps, who was a late-in-the-season pickup last year by Atlanta, was retained on a $2.5M contract by Atlanta making him less likely to be claimed by an opposing team. He pitched in 12 games for Atlanta in 2026 but allowed seven earned runs in only 7.2 innings pitched, striking out nine and walking four.

Assuming Payamps accepts his assignment to the Stripers, he’s likely to re-surface in Atlanta. He had been an average to above average reliever until struggling with the Milwaukee Brewers last year. He pitched in two games after joining the Braves in September last season.